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The ABO Initial Certification exam has 250 questions and runs 5 hours.
These 10 free ABO Initial Certification questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the American Board of Ophthalmology Initial Certification (Written Qualifying Examination + Oral Examination) blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
Four days after uncomplicated phacoemulsification, a 68-year-old man presents with pain, hypopyon, and vitritis. His visual acuity is hand motions. Based on the Endophthalmitis Vitrectomy Study, what is the MOST appropriate management?
Correct answer: B - Vitreous tap with injection of intravitreal antibiotics
A 24-year-old soft contact lens wearer reports 10 days of right eye pain that she describes as far more severe than her examination findings would suggest. She admits to showering and swimming while wearing her lenses. Slit-lamp examination reveals a ring-shaped stromal infiltrate. She was treated for presumed herpes simplex keratitis without improvement. Which organism is MOST likely responsible?
Correct answer: A - Acanthamoeba species
Which corneal stromal dystrophy is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, extends peripherally with involvement of the intervening stroma, and stains with Alcian blue?
Correct answer: C - Macular corneal dystrophy
In the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study, which baseline characteristic was an independent predictor of conversion to primary open-angle glaucoma?
Correct answer: D - Thinner central corneal thickness
A 58-year-old man with type 2 diabetes and hypertension develops acute ptosis, a left eye that is deviated down and out, and a 6 mm poorly reactive left pupil, accompanied by periorbital pain. What is the MOST appropriate next step?
Correct answer: A - Urgent CT angiography or MR angiography of the head
A 71-year-old woman has had a firm left upper eyelid nodule for 8 months. It has been incised and curetted twice as a presumed chalazion and has recurred each time. Examination shows loss of lashes over the lesion, diffuse thickening of the eyelid margin, and chronic unilateral conjunctival injection. What is the MOST likely diagnosis?
Correct answer: D - Sebaceous carcinoma
Thirty minutes after upper and lower blepharoplasty, a patient develops severe orbital pain, proptosis, and vision reduced to light perception. The globe is tense with resistance to retropulsion, and the intraocular pressure is 58 mm Hg. What should be done FIRST?
Correct answer: D - Perform lateral canthotomy with inferior cantholysis
A 6-year-old girl has limited elevation of the right eye in adduction, with normal elevation in abduction. Forced duction testing under anesthesia demonstrates resistance to elevation of the right eye in adduction. What is the MOST likely diagnosis?
Correct answer: B - Right Brown syndrome
A patient wearing a +4.00 D spectacle lens reads through a point 5 mm below the optical center of the lens. How much prismatic effect is induced?
Correct answer: B - 2.0 prism diopters
Dilated examination of a patient with type 2 diabetes shows extensive intraretinal hemorrhages and microaneurysms in all four quadrants and venous beading in two quadrants. There are no intraretinal microvascular abnormalities and no neovascularization. How should this retinopathy be classified?
Correct answer: C - Very severe nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy
The ABO Initial Certification exam also covers these domains. Drill them in the full free practice test:
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